


Observations.

by boltschick2612



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, POV First Person, Tampa Bay Lightning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-12
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-24 06:03:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boltschick2612/pseuds/boltschick2612
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Simon Gagne, it's one of the toughest plane rides home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Observations.

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff. Bromance/Romance. Could be interpreted either way. About the things you observe when you're stuck on a tough plane ride home. Takes place after Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals of 2011 after the Lightning were eliminated by Boston, and written from the Point of View of Simon Gagne. Not true. Author does not share the opinion of fictional Sean Bergenhiem.

I would probably go as far as to say that this is one of the worst plane rides of my life. I've had many plane rides home after tough losses, but this is one of the toughest. I've come close to the Cup with the Flyers a few times, even been knocked out of the playoffs by the very team I now play for. But we came so close, so fast...and I really thought we had it.

We're on our way back to Tampa from Boston, and there will be no Stanley Cup Final for us. Not this year. It's so disheartening. We persevered to come back from being down by 3 games in the series against the Penguins. We forced the Bruins to a Game 7. And we lost it all by one goal in the last minutes of the last game. One fucking goal.  
  
Both teams played exceptionally, and it was a 0-0 tie until Horton managed to beat Roli, who had been standing on his head all night. It was a bad goal. Scored at a bad time. Roli deserved that shut out, he deserved a win. We deserved to win. We should be flying to Vancouver right now, not Tampa.

I'm sitting staring out the window of the plane, glad that none of my team mates decided to sit next to me.

Who am I kidding? A couple of them tried to, but ultimately decided against it when they read my body language. Closed off. Pissed. Angry.

Some of my team mates are sleeping, and the rest are trying to keep themselves distracted. iPods. Books. Conversations. I'm not so lucky. I half forgot to bring any such entertainment, half figured I wouldn't need it. I figured we would be too busy celebrating right now for me to need any such distractions.

I start to look about the cabin restlessly. There's no way I could nap right now. I could get up and walk about, but there's too much turbulence for that. So I sit here and look around the plane, eagerly awaiting the time where the plane's wheels touch down in Tampa and I can get out of here, go home, sleep and forget all about tonight.

I look to a few rows behind me and across the aisle to where Vinny is sitting next to the windows. Perched on his shoulder is the head of a sleeping Marty St.Louis. Vinny's eyes are only half open, and it's clear that he's tired. I don't know why he doesn't just fall asleep. And then I finally get it as I see Vinny look over at Marty, reach his hand up, and stroke Marty's hair. This action wakes Marty and he slowly opens his eyes, looking up at Vinny and smiling. Vinny whispers something to him that looks like "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep." Marty closes his eyes and Vinny finally drifts off to sleep, smiling.

My attention is immediately brought to the seats three rows ahead of Marty and Vinny. Those seats are being occupied by Steven Stamkos in the window seat and Steve Downie in the aisle seat. What draws my attention is the sight of Stamkos writhing in pain in his seat and Downie holding an ice pack to Stamkos' nose. He had taken a puck to the the face, directly to the nose actually, about halfway through the third period tonight. The whole team held their breath upon seeing Stamkos drop the ice and run off to the locker room with a towel held to his face and blood pouring onto the front of his jersey. I have to give the kid credit, he missed only one shift. He came right back out on the ice wearing a full face cage and a blood soaked jersey. I don't think I've ever been that resilient. If you added together all the time I've missed over my career, it probably would be equal to a whole season.   
  
I feel empathy for Stamkos. I know from personal experience how painful the headaches caused by a blow to the head can be. He is clearly suffering from such a headache now, and clearly the pressurized cabin is only making it worse. Downie is saying something to him in a soothing voice, but I can't tell what it is. Stamkos says something to him in return, and the only words I can make out are "Tylenol" and "sleep". Downie coaxes Stamkos to rest his head on his shoulder before saying "shhhh....try to sleep" while still holding the ice pack to Stamkos' nose.

Just a few rows ahead of them sit Mattias Ohlund and Victor Hedman. They're speaking in Swedish, so I have absolutely no idea what is being said. If I had to guess, I'd say that Ohlund is discussing defensive play with the young Swede. Ohlund just has that look on his face, same one he always has when he's working with the defensemen on the ice. Hedman, for his part, is sitting there looking intently at Ohlund, hanging on his every word as if it were the word of God himself, being handed down from the heavens. Ohlund says something, and it must have been a joke because now Victor is laughing as if it was the funniest thing he ever heard. He always acts like such a lost puppy dog around Ohlund.

My eyes move to the very back of the plane where Roloson is sitting....alone. Roli is well liked by the team and he likes everyone in return, yet he always seems to be alone. I guess it's just one of those odd goalie quirks. He's flipping through a small pocket sized photo album, the kind you get at Walgreens for a dollar or two. I have no doubt that the album is full of pictures of his wife and kids. They haven't come to Florida yet. Roli's family is still living in Ontario and everyone knows how much the goalie misses them. When Roli isn't talking about hockey, he's talking about his family. He doesn't know I'm watching as a tear escapes his eye and he reaches up to wipe it away.

Directly across the aisle from me sit Nate Thompson and Teddy Purcell. Nate has his hand on Teddy's knee and is whispering something into his ear. I can't hear what he's saying, and his lips are so close to Teddy's ear that there's no hope of trying read them. So I try to figure out what's being said by judging the look on Teddy's face. He's smiling, and the smile keeps growing as Nate continues to talk. Nate is quite and now it's Teddy's turn to whisper into Nate's ear. They both burst out into laughter.

Directly in front of me sits Ryan Malone and in between him and the window is Mike Smith. The only thing I can see through the slit in between the seats in Bugsy's tattooed arm resting on the arm rest. I can faintly hear Mike snoring. As I was boarding the plane, I passed by Mike slouched down in his seat. He was wearing a pair of ski goggles, no doubt borrowed from his wife, I think I heard someone say that she's an Olympic Skier. He was using them to block out the light and help him sleep, and from the sounds of it, they were working well. I hear Bugsy quietly chuckling to himself as Smitty's snoring grows louder and louder. I guess Bugsy decided he couldn't take it anymore because he decides to elbow the team's backup goalie in the ribs. Smitty lets out a loud snort and jerks awake. I hear him say "What the hell, Bugs?" Before Ryan replies with a "You were snoring....like you always do."

I can hear bits and pieces of the conversation that Sean Bergenhiem and Dominic Moore are having two rows behind me. I hear the phrases "next year" and "our line" and "off-season" but I can't hear much else. Judging by the tone of voice they both use, I'd say they were already playing out next season in their minds.

The next thing Bergenhiem says I do hear, and that's because he intentionally says it loud enough for the whole plane to hear, even standing a little as he does.

"Screw Tim Thomas and the Horton he rode in on!"

The plane erupts with applause and laughter. Bugsy stands up in front of his seat and turns around to face towards the back of the plane where Bergenhiem is sitting next to Moore.

"Don't you mean 'horse he rode in on' Bergie"? Bugsy can barely contain his laughter.

"No. I said what I meant," Bergenhiem yells back at him.

Bugsy starts to turn back around, but before he does he looks down at me and asks "What a interesting group of characters we have here, eh Gags?"

I look up at him, smile and say "Yeah, we sure do."


End file.
